Italic \I*tal"ic\, a. [L. Italicus: cf. F. italique. Cf. Italian.]

1. Relating to Italy or to its people.

2. Applied especially to a kind of type in which the letters do not stand upright, but slope toward the right; -- so called because dedicated to the States of Italy by the inventor, Aldus Manutius, about the year 1500.

Italic languages, the group or family of languages of ancient Italy.

Italic order (Arch.), the composite order. See Composite.

Italic school, a term given to the Pythagorean and Eleatic philosophers, from the country where their doctrines were first promulgated.

Italic version. See Itala.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Italic \I*tal"ic\, n.; pl. Italics. (Print.) An Italic letter, character, or type (see Italic, a., 2.); -- often in the plural; as, the Italics are the author's. Italic letters are used to distinguish words for emphasis, importance, antithesis, etc. Also, collectively, Italic letters.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Composite \Com*pos"ite\ (?; 277), a. [L. compositus made up of parts, p. p. of componere. See Compound, v. t., and cf. Compost.]

1. Made up of distinct parts or elements; compounded; as, a composite language.

Happiness, like air and water . . . is composite. --Landor.

2. (Arch.) Belonging to a certain order which is composed of the Ionic order grafted upon the Corinthian. It is called also the Roman or the Italic order, and is one of the five orders recognized by the Italian writers of the sixteenth century. See Capital.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)